Microsoft have taken a bashing over the last few weeks, partly because of their flat out refusal to discuss their next console and partly because of the actions of Adam Orth, the Microsoft creative director who took to Twitter in defense of an always online console. The top articles on sites like N4G and Reddit have almost consistently housed articles about why Microsoft are doing things wrong. Why, then, is their stock at almost the highest it's been in six months?

Yeah, rumours can affect stock. I mean, technically we're talking about the marketability of a product. If you think investors haven't seen the negative response to always-on, you're wrong.

It depends how many people are selling based on those rumours, I suppose. That's the interesting thing. Either they're not taking the backlash especially seriously and are taking the risk of waiting until the official announcement - at which point stocks will likely plummet if always-on is confirmed with no bells and whistles - or they know something we don't and aren't panicking.

@Sonic200 I only recall one or two negative articles toward Sony in that respect. I also do not remember people claiming they wouldn't buy it. The negative press Microsoft is getting for the same rumor is far worse. The amount of negative press they are receiving would affect stock prices and lucky for them it has not.

Well, to answer the question...rumors do not affect stocks. If these rumors did affect stocks in a negative way, MS would have had to reveal the Next Xbox earlier than they expected. But since it did not affect its stocks, why make a move.

You seem upset. You wanna talk about it? Was it your wish that the rumours would drive their stocks down and they'd be bought out completely by SONY? Yeah, I remember when I was 12 too and I wished Dawson would break Katie Holmes heart so that I would have a shot at her. . .didn't happen sadly. You wanna start a support group for losers that wish outlandish things that will never come true? You can be president. On the real now, so an article not written by Microsoft emerges about their stock price and suddenly they are bragging? What exactly is wrong with you man? No seriously, what the **** is wrong with you?! You want to see them fail that much? On topic, Microsoft are a huge cooperation, Xbox business is only a small part of that. They make billions upon billions of profit every year outside the Xbox business. Their stocks can withstand bad rumours in their gaming division because unlike some other cooperation, gaming isn't one of their only money makers [lol I say this very lightly].

Stock price goes down when there is something that is believed to scare customers away. Many, mostly Sony fanboys, have said always on is a deal breaker. SO maybe they know it isn't what the fanboys are making it out to be. Or maybe they know that developers want it and are willing to support the console that does it more. Either way, the price going up means they see the next Xbox as something good.

Although Microsoft is a big company that makes a lot of profitable things. SO it could be based on the Xbox TV thing, Xbox Surface thing, MS set-top boxes, second generation Surface. MS usually doesn't get much credit for making more money since profits have gone up every year and the stock price has been flat for years. So it must be big.

Ok, well if I had to be worried about revenue and sales I would be more worried about future console sales IF the rumors are completely true.

I do believe the rumors I true to some extent. I do think the the console will be always on and connected if you have internet. If you don't have internet, the console will still run just fine. Its a feature therefor optional, and not mandatory.

Bad press is only among fanboys on forums. Most people making noise are PS3 fanboys. Devs would love DRM and so would investors. Gamers with no internet would be devastated and would hurt MSFT bad although making devs and investors happy, as long as the install base was healthy because of DRM.

I still think if true in some way, people are confusing some up coming Auto feature needs of the retail console and some sort of pre launch dev kit security protocols both sharing the same needs.

DRM would make xbox the preferred console of choice but would not be worth the lost business from non internet consumers. If any of this was true the xbox wouldn't even come with or need a HDD or disc drive for that matter for games. Why invest in HDD and disc drive driving up the cost if you have a console that won't work without internet? Why not go full DDL? MSFT would be better off releasing a full cloud based system Which isn't practical with load issues and ISP bandwidth caps.

Are you an investor? Will you gain anything from that? That's what I thought. I'm a consumer, I'm the gamer, and so far, PlayStation is offering me what I want as a gamer and at the same time giving developers a very easy to use console and making both sides happy, not with some always-online bs but with what matters most to us gamers and developers...GAMES GAMES GAMES!!

If you don't own any developing studios or have no part in Microsoft, you are not gaining anything from what they are doing and I think this has to do more with what they are planning with the console aside from gaming.

I love how all the little kid fanboys think that "always online" means you can't even play a single player game without being connected. Bunch of younglings. Why would they make a console that you can't even play a SP game on? Why?

What's going to happen is the game publishers are going to set what games need to be online and what don't. Not the console makers. And guess what? It's going to happen on PS4 too. MS and Sony are going to leave it up to the publishers to say what games are always online.

Not the actual console.

Jesus... it's so easy. Yet some are so far up in it, they can't even see.

Now tell me how many stocks you own in MSFT? Now if you don't own stock in MSFT then WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE. Seriously stop living in a dream world, we get(even if some people disagree) that you are in LOVE with an emotionless BILLION DOLLAR corporation that probably doesn't even know you exist.

well, indirectly, The xbox way of doing things is going to greatly affect 3rd party devs behavior. maybe some of those 3rd party will go digital only instead of retail, since the next xbox is supposedly always online. then maybe those games will only be digital also on PS4 since they`re not distributing it at retail with the competitors.

PSN as greatly improved over the years and I`m pretty sure Xbox Live had a part to play in it. competition is one aspect that is driving this industry and that`s why even if I prefer Playstation over Xbox, I can`t turn a blind eye to the competition.

Microsoft is too big to fall even if they drop Xbox, and i dont believe Xbox will be as bad as people are saying, i and if you are a true gamer we can only hope that is a great Console so we can buy and have fun.

Remember if Sony is the only ONE making a GREAT Console than none of us will have an alternative, monopoly market is bad for our or anyother industry so i say, make a damn fine Console Microsoft, competition is healthy and the more games the better.

We are not saying nintendo or sony should be the only ones in the gaming biz. Microsoft is at a loss or maybe they know but face it, they only care about money. same can be said of sony and nintendo atleast they listen to developers and fans. competition is healthy yes but I would rather want Sega back and replace microsoft.

This is good news for them but...what does their business outside of gaming have to do with their gaming business?

Its like when poor tv sales pop up in a Sony gaming related topic, what does one thing have to do with the other?

We all know these companies are huge and have investment in many places, no one is arguing that. But the whole always online fiasco is something thats affecting their xbox brand to some extent, not the parent company as a whole. Therefore no one would be stupid to suggest that one issue will drop them on the head.

As I said before, there is no bad press for companies. Microsoft has a lot of other things going for it right now to increase stock though, surface is doing well, Xbox 360 is doing well, Windows of course is doing well, and Microsoft is looking like they are set up for the future, I'm sure once we see the next Xbox things will improve even more.

Hopefully they bust out a billion dollar ad campaign for the next Xbox, they'll need to reach as many people as possible.

I agree Microsoft are really starting to turn a lot of things round including there image.

I was very against Microsoft 10 years or so ago but With Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 (Lumia920), Xbox, Xbox music Pass, Skype, SkyDrive, 2012 Essentials server (Media server) Surface RT and Sky Player used on My 360 I use a lot of MS products and they all work well with each other between home and work.

I still own other devices that are not MS but all in all Microsoft products have become the central point of my software and hardware life and it fits me better than any other eco system.

Microsoft are also just bringing all there hardware/software under one big bubble which they tried to do back in the early 2000s but were stopped by a lot of governments but now Google and Apple are doing it Microsoft are also aloud to do it.

I think one of the reasons why MS have not shown off the next xbox is because it will be the final link to there windows 8/phone 8 Blue update that enables Windows 8 Windows Phone 8 and next xbox to all work together with Apps, Games, Media and more.

Because most people don't look at these rumors as a resource. Especially coming from a fanbum's closet. We should really look at this, maybe the stock brokers know something about the next Xbox we don't.

Kids should stay out of finance, Microsoft's stocks are going up because the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ indexes have been experiencing intensive rallying by increasing investor appetite for technology related stocks. Apple, Intel, HP, Google etc etc you name it have all been on a huge rise for the last 6 months.

If you had to explain Microsoft's most recent increases, IS FOR THIS ALONE: Congress has banned American communication companies from buying parts originating from China, therefore Chinese firms are buying into American technology firms to try and muscle their way around it.And then there's the moderately successful ad campaign for Bing against Google.

LoL yeah they should learn a thing or two about the market and stocks before they attribute a bunch of dumb negative rumors to a rise in stocks. 360 fanboys are getting dumber by the day and are on serious damage control.

No shit with all the Windows 8 bull they have been selling.. People are freaking suckers.

Let's make this OS that really isn't that different than Windows 7 and just make it more like Windows RT used on our mobile phones.. Great idea!

Let's advertise this surface pro everywhere, look you can use Microsoft paint on it! Cool huh?

I mean god damn every time I see one of those commercials that is all they do on the damn thing, is paint with that stylus.. What an advertisement, I can't wait to run out spend $900 so I can paint pictures that match the quality of a third graders..

People still buy the shit out of them.. and sadly when I know they could be used for a lot more, those type of ass clowns buying them probably only use them to paint on or browse the internet. Shit you could do a computer that cost $99.. probably less actually.

Why do people act like Microsoft is only about xbox? Microsoft has many divisions and products. Them having high stocks can mean that the other divisions are doing well enough that the ONE POSSIBLE XBOX PROBLEM is miniscule in comparison. Do some of you people really think Microsoft is made and broken by a game console? If stocks were up for a company like Nintendo amidst rumors then it would be a bit different because that's all they are. But for Sony and Microsoft things are multifaceted. Some of you really think that stocks are up so nextbox=pwn. Some gamers want everything 3d but can only see everything 1 dimensional.